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iPhone T-minus 3 days

So here we are, just three days away from the iPhone’s release in Apple and AT&T stores across America. People are already starting to line up in New York, and I bet someone will soon be camping out in front of the Palo Alto Apple Store — assuming there’s no one there already. My current plan is to go to the Valley Fair Apple Store in the morning when the mall opens and ask the employees what the line strategy will be throughout the day. If you hadn’t heard, Apple intends to close its retail stores at 2:00 pm (instead of the previously reported 4:30 pm time) to prepare for the 6:00 pm release. Though it would be nice to get the phone on Friday, it’s really no sweat if I have to wait a little while longer.

I’m glad that the price differential between my current plan and the iPhone plan isn’t that great. $20 extra a month is better than the extra $40/month I were to add a data plan to my Blackberry. The iPhone’s better browser and native sync support means I’d get more use out of the phone than I do currently. The free PocketMac software for the Blackberry just blows.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions regarding the iPhone and how it relates to Newton. Is the iPhone the successor to the Newton? Is it the iNewton? I wrote back in January that “if anyone can resurrect the spirit and functionality of Newton, it’s Apple.” That quote might work for Newton-fanatics around the world, but it has no meaning at Apple. Publicly, Apple doesn’t care about resurrecting anything from its past; today, it’s always looking towards the future. For them, the iPhone isn’t the second coming of a product that they canceled nearly ten years ago. Rather, the iPhone represents a historic first stake in the redefinition of the phone.

More thoughts to come as the countdown continues to iPhone mania on Friday!